


Lockets

by Donsular



Category: Mary Poppins (Movies)
Genre: Birthday, Gen, Ghosts, Happy Birthday Lin!, Lockets, Magic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-16
Updated: 2020-01-16
Packaged: 2021-02-27 04:28:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,010
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22281097
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Donsular/pseuds/Donsular
Summary: A very important day has reached Cherry Tree Lane. Jack’s birthday is fast approaching. But before they even realise what they’re doing, the Banks children prepare a search of the city to find one particularly precious item.Happy birthday to Lin-Manuel Miranda!
Kudos: 14





	Lockets

Summer has a tendency to drag. We all know that. As much as we all love it, and we tell ourselves it’s brilliant, that long holiday can seem to last forever. You make so many plans about what you’ll spend the break doing, but by the second day, your lying on the floor wondering how much longer it’s going to last. But some people are luckier than others. That’s just the way of the world. Some people have something to look forward to during their holiday. Maybe it’s a trip away, or an anniversary, or even a birthday. And the Banks kids were some of these lucky children.

It wasn’t any of their birthdays, they were all at the very start and end of the year. But slap bang in the middle was Jack’s. As soon as they’d gotten to know him, they’d been determined to know the date, and once he told them, they counted down the seconds till the moment came. They didn’t exactly know how old he was turning, but that didn’t mean they couldn’t surprise him. And that’s exactly what they intended to do.

It was the Eve of the 8th of August when they were playing outside. Really, it was just a way to discuss what present they were planning on getting him when they went into town that day. But that didn’t mean they weren’t having fun.

“What about a scarf, or some gloves?” Annabel suggested.

“Nah, he’s already got gloves, and a scarf isn’t a very interesting gift.”

“We could make him a hat!” Georgie beamed.

“You do realise we only have today to do it, right? I doubt we’d be able to sew a hat, when none of us have ever sewn anything before.”

“Alright then, John. What do you think then?”

“Uhh, well how about-“

“SHUSH, HE’S COMING!” Surprisingly, Jack didn’t hear Georgie’s slightly too loud whisper-shout as he came cycling down their street. Infact, he seemed much too caught up in his own thoughts to pay them any mind at all. He just walked past them, still in his own world, as he set up his ladder and climbed up to switch off the lamp. John noticed he was actually much later than usual, but it didn’t seem like he was about to explain where he’d been. He was muttering something to himself and didn’t seem to notice that they could even hear him,

“I definitely had it when I left, and I can’t remember having it when I got to Angus’ house, so maybe I lost it on Laurence Street? No, wait, it could’ve been Swift Lane, that road’s pretty bumpy, it could’ve fallen off-”

“What are you talking about?” Georgie’s sudden and jarringly loud question seemed to shake Jack out of his trance, as he looked at them, blinking in surprise as if he hadn’t even noticed them standing right by him. He cleared his throat awkwardly,

“Oh, it’s nothing. I’ve just lost something is all. I was trying to think back to where I was yesterday to maybe find it.”

“Is that why you’re late?” His eyes darted between the children and the lamp in alarm. He hadn’t realised the whole thing had noticeably held him up. He could get fired if he did that too often.

“Yeah, I was just looking for it this morning. I didn’t even realise the time.” He laughed awkwardly.

“So what did you lose?” John asked.

“Just a locket.” Jack slid back down his ladder, “It’s something my Ma gave me when I was little.”

“Maybe we could help you find it!” Annabel suggested, hopefully. Jack smiled fondly at the three of them, but the smile did little to mask the sadness in his eyes. The locket clearly meant a lot to him, even if he was trying so hard to act casual and blasé about it.

“I doubt you’ll find it. I must’ve lost it at some point when I was out yesterday, the clasp’s been a little dodgy for a while now. It could be anywhere in London. No, I’m afraid that old thing’s long-gone.”

“Well, we like a challenge.” She stated, “I bet we can find it.” Jack only laughed for a moment,

“I like your determination, but believe me, it’s gone. You’d never find it. And I don’t need your dad wringing my neck when he finds out you’re traipsing all over London for me.”

“There you are!”

“Speak of the devil.” Michael came out of the house looking rather exasperated.

“Can you three please go clean up your room?! Ellen nearly broke her neck tripping over all your bits on the floor.”

“Sorry dad.”

“It’s alright, off you go then.” The three children quickly waved back and hurried off, not wanting to annoy their father any more, leaving Jack to pack up as their father followed them inside.

They had to admit, the nursery was a mess. But they didn’t mind cleaning it up, it was a perfect chance to discuss a plan to find Jack’s locket. Jack was right when he said it could be anywhere in London. In all their time knowing him, they’d never known him to be at home. He was working early mornings, late nights, and roamed during the day. It wouldn’t even surprise any of them if they were told he didn’t ever go home. So lord only knows where he could’ve lost it. And London was a busy place, it could’ve been kicked down a road, or put in a bin, or collected by someone with a magpie’s love for shiny things. The task was beginning to seem overwhelmingly impossible, but of course, that was a word they couldn’t allow. They just needed to pick a starting point and get to work. Solve one problem, and the next, and the next. And if they solved enough problems, they might just manage it.

“We should probably start with his lighting route.” John suggested, “It could be as simple as, it came undone when he was lighting the lamps.”

“Don’t you think that’s a bit too obvious?” Annabel asked.

“It’s a locket, not a person that we’re trying to find. It’s not going to avoid getting dropped somewhere because it’s too obvious of a place to look.”

“Still, it seems too simple. And he probably looked there already.”

“We can’t just ignore an idea because it’s too easy. And wouldn’t you rather check yourself than trust that Jack didn’t miss it while he was trying to work, if he even looked at all?”

“Ok, ok,” she huffed, “you’ve made your point.” Then Georgie interrupted their little argument with his own conundrum,

“Well, how are we supposed to know his route?” John wasn’t as inclined to disregard this issue. He was right, after all. They had no clue which streets he went through other than when he came to Cherry Tree Lane.

“Maybe we could ask? If we can’t ask Jack, we can probably ask another leerie. They might not know but they could probably tell us where to go to find out.” This seemed to be a satisfactory answer, either that, or Annabel was tired of questioning her brother’s plans. So the three of them set about finishing their cleaning job, before they gathered together to put on their hats and coats and head out. Michael didn’t seem to mind them leaving, as he was under the impression that they were just buying a birthday gift and going to the park. Had he known that they planned to trek all over London by themselves rather than staying fairly local, he would have been much less inclined to let them go. But he didn’t know that. So when they left, nobody batted an eyelid.

The first step of their plan was to find a leerie. Any would do. However, they certainly expected the task to be easier. Whenever they weren’t looking for one, you’d see them all over the streets. But it was just Sod’s law that on this particular day, many of the leeries were on holiday, leaving only a few out working that were all far too busy to stop for the children. On the rare occasion they came across anyone in work clothes with a bike, it seemed to be someone of another profession rather than the lamplighter they hoped they were.

It was for this very reason that it took almost an hour before they found a leerie. And this time they were certain, as he was, at that moment, replacing the glass on a broken lamp, that seemed to have been shattered by an unfortunately aimed rock in some sort of dispute. He was grumbling to himself about how he didn’t need any more work when he was already so busy, but he was able to force a slightly more cheerful disposition while he conversed with the trio.

“I don’t know his route off the top of my head, but if you head to the office down on Liberty Street, I’m sure there’ll be someone there who can look it up for you.” He had said, still slightly annoyed by the unnecessarily specific question. “It’s the building in the corner. Can’t miss it, there’s like, 20 lamps in the window.”

That had been helpful enough that they didn’t feel it necessary to badger the poor man any longer, so they bid him a quick farewell and headed off to find the office. Thankfully, they had been there before. Their father and Aunt Jane had been out for work so Jack had offered to walk them home from school. He needed to make a stop at the office to pick up his bike from behind the building (apparently it was broken and it had been left there after being repaired), and although they never went inside, Annabel was still pretty confident she could retrace their steps to get there.

She was right. Mostly. She was able to bring them to the right area of London, but they couldn’t find the specific street in the maze of small roads. From there, their only option was trial and error until Georgie spotted the street sign and pulled his older brother and sister along with him.

The street itself was a very small culdesac that barely had enough room for one car to pass down it at a time. But just as the leerie had said, in the end corner, tucked away and almost out of sight, was a small, dirty building with a cheap sign hanging over the door that read, ‘Worthing’s Lamps’.

They were a little apprehensive to go in, and even more so when they found the door was locked. They could hear voices inside and were worried they’d be interrupting something important, but that didn’t stop them from knocking. The room went quiet, and the sound of footsteps approached the door. When it opened, they were met with the view of a young lamplighter, one they had met once or twice before, Joey.

“Hello?” He was certainly more than a little confused that a trio of young children had come to the door. He even stuck his head out the doorway to see if their parents were there, scrunching his brows up in confusion when he saw they were unaccompanied. “What can I do for you?”

“We need to know Jack’s lighting route.” Georgie chirped.

“Who’s there Joey?” An older voice called out from somewhere in the building.

“It’s just some kids.”

“We’re the Banks children,” John added, “we’re friends with Jack.” His assurance didn’t leave Joey any less suspicious of them, but he did let them come inside. So that was at least some progress.

The inside was rather warm, and dark, only being lit by a few candles with almost no natural light due to a lack of windows. The one at the front didn’t seem to let in much light at all with all the lanterns on display to block the view. At the back of the room stood a cheap old desk, at which an older gentlemen, whom they knew to be Worthing, sat, pondering what he’d overheard from their conversation.

“Banks... Banks. Aha! You’re the family that almost lost your house, right? Jack gathered the leeries to climb and turn back the hands on Big Ben for you.” The children nodded. “Ah, yes. I’ve heard about your antics.”

“Wait, really?” Joey spluttered, just about keeping up with the conversation despite his shock, “They climbed Big Ben? Where was I?”

“Liverpool.” This seemed to silence him, though Joey did seem a little disappointed that he’d missed out on something so extraordinary and hadn’t even been told about it.

“Now, what seems to be the problem?”

“We need to know Jack’s lighting route.” Without initial question, he rose from his seat and opened a set of draws at the back of the room, removing a book with a list of names in it. He had a little trouble with getting the right Jack, as it seemed there were 4 others employed there, but eventually he found the right one.

“Jack Hackney: Route 37,” he muttered, as he searched through another book of various maps of the different areas of London. Each one had a route painted on in red that, along with the rest, would just about cover all of the city. He flicked through, still muttering until he came across the right page,

“Aha! Here it is.” He seemed not to be too concerned about why they needed to know, and since he knew they were friends, Worthing didn’t feel it particularly necessary to question them. But Joey, who was naturally rather protective, was still pretty sceptical.

“What do you wanna know his route for anyhow?”

“He lost something and we want to help him find it. We thought his lighting route would be the best place to start.” Joey chuckled at this,

“Good luck with that one. If there’s one thing we all know about Jack, it’s that he doesn’t stay in one place for very long. He crisscrosses his way all over London every day. If it’s not on his route, you’re never going to find it. And how come he’s sending kids out to look for his stuff?”

“He isn’t,” John started, “he doesn’t even know we’re doing this.”

“Does anyone?” He joked.

“Not really.” Both men eyed them quizzically, debating what they ought to do. Worthing sighed and quickly made a note of the directions of Jack’s route.

“I’ll give you this so you can have a look. Only because I know you’ll try even if I attempt to stop you. But once you’ve checked it out, you can’t go looking anywhere else. The places Jack cycles through aren’t exactly the best. So you need to watch yourself.” Worthing hoped his warning may put off the children from going, but all he got was a cheerful, ‘we will!’ Before they picked up the paper and hurried out the door as Worthing and Joey could only have the chance to watch them go.

“I don’t know about this, Joey. I have a feeling I’m going to regret doing that.”

The children, however, were feeling much more confident. As they made their way across town to the starting point of the route, they chittered away to each other like it was any normal day as the midday sun burnt down overhead.

“So where do we start?” John asked.

“Mmm,” Annabel mused as she studied the directions, “that way!” She set off in a new direction with her brothers obediently following her. They wandered down another street, took a left, and as they reached a T-junction, Annabel pointed across the street to a lonely lamp.

“That’s the start.” John and Georgie were grinning from ear to ear at the sight. They had been feeling rather tired from their long walk all over town, but the sight of some progress sent a bolt of energy through them, that had them running across the street to begin their search.

Now, when the trio had initially decided to search Jack’s route, they hadn’t really expected it to take so long. Their focus had been more on how they’d know where to start, so when they actually did start, they got very tired very quickly. They were taking a few minutes to look around every lamp along the road and keeping their eyes peeled between posts, but they were having no luck at all. They hadn’t really thought about how long the route would be. Had they known it took Jack a few hours to complete his rounds each time, even with the added speed of his bike, they would’ve known it would take three times as long while walking and searching as well.

They did try their best, though. Even though it was tough. But as they made their way through the list of locations, they couldn’t help but think back to past lights and possible places they may have failed to look, distracting them from their search at the current lamps. And as they went on, the feeling that they missed the locket at a previous stop, only grew. They knew they’d have to seriously hurry up, as after 3 hours of walking, they were only just halfway through. Their father would be getting suspicious and they’d have to give up the search and head home. The only thought that kept them going, was that the route took them home, and it would be no faster to walk another way, so they may as well carry on.

They’d made it to the market by the late afternoon when they decided to sit down. Their legs were seriously aching, and Georgie had been struggling to keep up with the twins for a while.

“I don’t believe this. We’re never going to find it. It’s such a waste of time!” John huffed. Annabel wasn’t even going to pretend that she didn’t agree with him. Part of her wanted to just give up and go home, but the last shred of hope within her kept telling her to finish what they started. But despite this, she knew that would be no help.

“There has to be another way. Surely? Because this just isn’t working.”

“Well, what are the other options? There aren’t any. I think we should just forget about it and go home. Jack was right, the locket’s long-gone.”

“What about Mary Poppins?” Georgie suggested.

“No Georgie. We have no way to find her. If we wanted magic to solve our problems,” he laughed, “then we should...” John’s flippant remark trailed off as he looked into the distance, the turning cogs in his head completely visible for his sister and brother to see.

“What is it?”

“Come on!” Grabbing their hands, John pulled his siblings up and dragged them along as he ran through the street.

“Where are we going?”

“We need some magic. We can’t get Mary Poppins, but we can get her cousin.” He said, stopping in front of a dark alley.

“But she fixes things, how would she help?”

“She can fix our problems.” He chirped confidently. So without further questioning, the three siblings headed down the alley, weaving through the small, dark and dingy buildings lining the sides of the path. Just where they remembered it being, Topotrepolovsky’s All Repairs Large & Small Fix-It Shop. Thankfully, it was pretty quiet, so they wouldn’t have too much trouble trying to talk to her. So when they knocked and heard a chipper ‘come in’ from the other side, they headed in, filled with confidence.

“Oh, it’s you again. Alone this time? Where’s Mary? Where’s your handsome friend?” Cringing at how she referred to Jack, Annabel was the first to answer,

“They’re not here. We need your help.”

“What can I do for you, then? Do you have another repair?”

“Not really. Jack lost a locket he was given. We wanted to find it for him, but it could anywhere in London. We don’t really know know what to do.” Topsy stood there for a moment, finger gently tapping her chin as she pondered their predicament. Until, finally, a thought crossed her mind.

“Did Mary ever tell you about the place where the lost things go?”

“Yes, but that’s for people, isn’t it?”

“Not necessarily,” she chirped, “anything that is lost gets taken there. And I imagine that’s what’s happened to this locket.” This was all well and good, but that didn’t help them enough,

“Well, how do we get it back?” Topsy’s demeanour changed slightly at that moment.

“Well, you have to get lost. But I don’t suggest you try it. It can be very difficult to get there, and even harder to get back out.”

“It can’t be that bad.” Georgie scoffed

“I wouldn’t say that my boy, you may just jinx yourself.”

“But, if we were to go, how would we do it?” John asked, attempting to look innocent. But his attempt failed, as Topsy just chuckled at him.

“My boy, I may be old, but Topsy is not stupid. Now, run along. It’s quite late and I imagine you’re not meant to be here in the first place.” Realising they were pushing it, they decided it was probably best to get going before Topsy could do anything else. So, they quickly gathered themselves up, and tossed a quick ‘thank you for your help’ to her, before making their way back out into the street.

“Great, so what now?”

“We do exactly what she said. We need to get lost.”

“What?!” Annabel said, dumbfounded, “You heard what she said, right? We can’t do that!”

“Well what other choice do we have?” John argued.

“How about going home and not putting ourselves in danger?! Come on, we’ve been out all day, aren’t you tired?”

“We can’t give up now, not when we’re so close. Come on, we have to try at least.”

“No. Come on Georgie,” she commanded, taking her little brother’s hand, “let’s go.” But as they turned to leave, John had an idea.

“Alright then. You can go home. But I’m going to find the locket on my own, then.” And with that, he set off running in a random direction, through the maze of dark alleys. Annabel would’ve let him go, knowing exactly what he was trying to do, but it seemed that Georgie fell for it, as he broke away from her to chase their brother through the darkness. And so, knowing Georgie may get lost on his own, she decided to run after them, for his sake.

“Wait! Slow down! Where are you going?!” Annabel desperately tried to keep up, but as the boys had a head start, she very quickly lost them in the twisting and turning alleys. Her heart was pounding as she started to panic, desperately trying to make a note of the turns she took, so she could make her way back. But by the time she came to a cross-roads, she was completely turned around.

“John!” She called, “Georgie! Where are you?!” She could’ve sworn she heard someone laughing down the left way, so without a second thought, she took off running, no longer trying to remember her way back, just trying to find her brothers.

She went seemingly every direction as she ran. Right, left, forward and back, but somehow, she never heard the bustle of a nearby street. It seemed like she was just getting infinitely further away from any sign of life. Despite the fact, she should really have reached another street by now. No alley maze could be so big. But as she went deeper and deeper in, it just kept going, getting darker and darker as she went. She was starting to seriously worry. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t hear her brothers anywhere. She figured they may have gone back, so she turned around to go back the way she came, but as Topsy said, it’s much harder to be found once you’re lost.

Walking back the way she came, everything felt different. Where there had once been small junctions, she could only go one way. And the way seemed to split in entirely new places, once even having six potential pathways, that she knew had not been an option before.

“John? Georgie? Come on, where did you go?” She was on the verge of tears by this point, and her inner youth was pushing her to the verge of crying for her father. But she was suddenly snapped back into reality by the buzz of a crowd. Definitely a crowd. A whole street in fact.

Following the sound, she came to a particularly narrow passage, forcing her to walk sideways to just about squeeze through to the other side. But when she did, she certainly hadn’t expected to see what she did.

A bustling street, that seemed way too dark considering it was a summer day, lay before her. It was so cold that anyone would think it was the middle of winter rather than August. People were busying themselves with various odd jobs despite the weather, and business was running as usual. But in the dark and grimy street, her focus was more drawn to the people over anything else.

Ghosts. Everywhere. Wearing all kinds of clothes from all periods of time. A group of friends consisting of a recently deceased man, a burnt witch, and a medieval priest bundled past, closely followed by the misty ghost of an extinct breed of dog. Cavemen were selling their wares in the market to the kings that had passed on, while Roman guards patrolled up and down the way. Annabel was completely astounded by the sight. This must’ve been the place where lost things go. But if that was the case, where were her brothers?

The answer to that came in the form of a gleeful cheer from behind her.

“ANNABEL!” She turned around just in time for Georgie to charge into her with the strongest hug he could manage. She immediately flung her arms around him, almost crying into his shoulder, as John came running after the youngest, laughing at his plan’s success.

“See, it worked!” He chirped.

“John, what is wrong with you?! You really scared me. And look where we are, do you know how we’re going to get out of here? Because the maze you ran through to get here was changing the whole time! We might not be able to get out! We could be stuck here forever! We could be-” Before she had a chance to hyperventilate any longer, the pair of Romans who were patrolling the street, approached them.

“Are you three alright?”

“Yes, yes we’re fine.” John assured, hoping they’d ignore his sister. They seemed a little confused, but considering how they’d seen many children arrive on the street alone, they knew best not to worry. It was a tragedy of life, but it happened.

“Come on Annabel, we’re here now. We may as well look around for that locket while we’re here. We can worry about getting home later.”

“I won’t forget this.” Annabel hissed. But despite her anger, she said nothing more on the matter and followed her brothers down the road, making sure they actually stuck together this time.

The road was very busy, and as they made their way along, they realised it wasn’t just a road, it was a whole city. No, a whole alternate world. The spirits of past generations, fluttered around as if everything was as it had always been, despite the fact they were living in the houses of modern London. Every road was packed with people, and they were in desperate need of some respite. They’d only gone into the shop to get away from it all for a moment, so they could put together a plan. They hadn’t even realised it was a second-hand shop.

Inside, shelves were piled high up the walls and filled with all kinds of items large and small, while large tables in the centre of the room had precariously stacked towers of rubbish and treasures. Smaller drawers ran along the bottom of the shelves in a long line around the room with labels painted on the dark oak wood to indicate what was held inside. It wasn’t particularly useful however, as the faded labels were nearly impossible to read in the dark windowless room, and with the floors being made of the same material as the shelves, that covered almost all of the dark green walls, it was almost enough to confuse you with what you were meant to be looking at.

“Hello there, children!” An early-Victorian spirit was sat at the counter, his green aura providing a light almost as bright as the small, dim chandelier that gently lit the room. He was a middle aged man with a bushy moustache and a mop of thick brown hair.

“Hello!” Georgie waved.

“I haven’t seen you around these parts before. I take it you’re new, then?”

“Yeah, we honestly have no idea what’s going on.”

“Oh don’t worry, I was just the same when I came here. You’ll find your feet soon enough. But this place might be a good place to start. I’m Mr Rosedale. And this here shop of mine is where the dead come to collect the things they lost in life.”

“Really?” They were astounded. This was exactly what they needed.

“Do you have a locket?” John asked, “Our friend lost it recently and we need to find it.” He thought for a moment before flicking through a large book on his desk,

“I think we might have it. I could’ve sworn we had a delivery that had a locket in.” He read though the stock book until he came across what he was looking for.

“Aha, I knew it. Hold on one moment. I still haven’t put all the new stock out, you see.” He disappeared through a door behind his counter into a back room, where the children could hear him clattering about as he searched through everything he had in storage. It sounded like he’d broken something, and they were rather worried he might hurt himself, with the amount of stuff crammed into the small room, but before they had the sense to ask if he was ok, he stumbled back out of the room, triumphantly clutching the bronze locket with the broken clasp in his hand.

“Here it is!” He said, taking the tag that was tied to it to read the name, “Belonging to a Mr Jack Hackney.”

“That’s the one!” John cheered.

“Perfect, now, which one of you is Mr Hackney?” The children stood there awkwardly, not quite sure what to say.

“None of us are. We’re just collecting it for him.” The once cheerful man frowned slightly,

“I’m afraid I can’t let you take it, then. This item must be collected by either Mr Hackney himself, or someone who has proof that they’re a close relative.” The children were shocked, they were sure they’d be able to get it, they hadn’t even considered the the fact that Jack may have needed to be there.

“What?! But Jack can’t collect it. He’s not dead. We’re trying to send it back to him in the real world. We’re his friends.”

“I’m sorry, if the owner cannot collect an item, then it must instead be collected by a relative.”

“But we nearly are!” Mr Rosedale quirked a brow at Georgie, “He’s going to marry our Aunt Jane one day. He’s going to be our uncle.”

“Exactly. He’s GOING to marry her.” He started, “that means he isn’t yet. And that means that you are not his relatives. I’m sorry children, buts its the store policy. I’m afraid you can’t have this. If you can find a relative of his and they come here and give permission for you to take it, then I’ll happily let you have it. But you must understand that I can’t just trust your word. Otherwise, everyone would be walking all over me. And nobody would be able to collect their belongings.” Annabel sighed in defeat.

“We understand. Sorry for bothering you.” And without another word, the three of them left the shop, heading back out into the bitterly cold street where they found, much to their dismay, that it was snowing.

“Great. So after all this, and we’ve still failed.” John complained, “I can’t believe it! We were so close!”

“So what now? How are we going to get back?” Georgie asked.

“We’re not going back.”

“What?” Annabel faced her brothers with a look of determined fury.

“We’ve come so far and you’ve dragged me to the land of the dead all for us to just give up?! No. We’ve come this far, and I’m not leaving without that locket. If we’re ready to do so much to find it, then we’re doing the same to get it.”

“And how do you suppose we do that?”

“You heard what he said. We need a relative. So that’s what we’ll do. We find a relative and get them to help us.” John and Georgie, however, were still confused on how they could do that.

“If we just wander around and call his name, we’re bound to find someone. Come on.” And so they set off with their next plan. The trio picked a direction, and walked down the road shouting if anyone knew Jack Hackney. The streets were filled with people, and they knew they’d find someone eventually, even if it took a while. Despite the snow, which was beginning to seep through their summer clothes, making them shiver, their desperation and determination kept their voices loud enough to be heard over the general din of deceased London. And that was all they needed to catch a certain someone’s attention.

They’d been walking around for nearly an hour when a woman that had been standing at a street corner called out to them.

“What do you want with him?” She was a slender woman, who looked to only be in her thirties. She was very pretty, with long flowing black locks and eyes as dark as oil. She was wearing an old cheap dress, that looked to have once been very beautiful, and had a thick Spanish accent. The three of them practically ran over the street to her, excitedly asking,

“Are you related to him?”

“Yes, I’m his mother.” They were practically bursting with joy at the sight of her, only just about able to calm down enough to explain what was actually going on.

“We’ve come from the living world,” Annabel started, “we’ve been trying to find his locket, and we know where it is. But the man running the shop that has it, will only give it to Jack, or a relative. We need you to get it for us so we can take it back to him.” The woman seemed to take them more seriously than they expected. But then again, while the world seemed strange to them, it was just daily life for the spirits living there.

“Will you help us?” The woman barely took a second to respond,

“Of course.” That was enough to set the three of them off again, cheering and jumping and dancing for joy.

“My name is Valentina, what’s yours?”

“I’m John, that’s Annabel and that’s Georgie. It’s nice to meet you.” When John held his hand out for her to shake, she took it gratefully.

“So how do you know my son?” This launched them into the whole tale of how they met Jack. As they made their way back to the shop, they told her everything that they did with him, from the bike, to getting lost in the fog, to climbing Big Ben. She seemed pretty shocked to hear this, but was especially surprised when they told her about Jane. And in return, Valentina told them some stories she had of him.

“I can’t tell you how badly it scared me when he climbed that tree. I may have yelled at him for doing it, but I was still pretty impressed by his dive into the lake.” The three of them were laughing like they’d known each other for years when they arrived back at the shop.

“This is it, come on.” The now quartet made their way inside, to see Mr Rosedale at the top of a ladder, stacking some of the items from the back room onto the shelves, making the shop front even more of a cluttered mess.

“Back again, I see. And who’s this you’ve brought with you?”

“My name is Valentina. I’m Jack’s mother. We’re here to collect the locket.” He looked quizzically at them for a moment before climbing down, 

“Just a moment.” He paced over to the counter, pulling open a drawer to collect the locket from inside. He checked the tag for the names of his potential relatives, and smiled when he came across Valentina’s name.

“There you are. I see you’re his mother.” He chuckled, “I suppose that’s the closest relative he could have. Yes, that’ll do just nicely.” He placed the locket down on the counter and pulled out a piece of paper from his desk before collecting a pen, “this is just a document to say you collected the item, sign here.” He said pointing to a dotted line at the bottom of the page, and passing the pen to her. She gladly signed it, and as he filed away the document he gave them a chipper smile.

“There you go, it’s all yours.” Valentina gracefully thanked him and collected the locket before leaving the shop, not before saying a quick goodbye.

Once outside, they were all getting pretty excited.

“This is great! We’ll be able to give this to him in time for his birthday.” John’s comment seemed to light a spark in Valentina’s mind as she brushed her thumb over the locket.

“Of course. His birthday. I’ve been here so long, I almost forget. Yes, he must have grown a lot since I left.” The smile that had previously graced her face, fell somber. “How is he?” The children were a little surprised at her sudden change in tone, but they just about managed to quickly cobble together a comforting answer.

“He’s great. He works as a lamplighter now. And he has a lot of friends too.”

“And when he marries Jane,” Georgie added, “he’ll join our family!” She chuckled at his comment, but there was still a sadness in her eyes. Gently, she opened the locket, admiring the photo inside. It was a picture of the whole family back home, before they left the country, when they were living in the hills of Puerto Rico. It had been a large family. She lived with her parents, sister, brother-in-law, niece and two nephews, as well as her her own children. Jadzia had only been Jack’s half sister, but they loved each other like full siblings. But when she passed away, she knew she couldn’t bear to stay on the farm any longer. So she took her son to England and their whole life changed. She’d been so worried about him. The world was not very kind to them and even forced her to start calling him by a new name. She was always terrified that he wouldn’t be truly happy living as Jack. But if the children were right, and he really was doing well, then that was certainly enough to lay some of her fears to rest. Still, that didn’t stop her from missing him.

“Do you mind if I add something to this locket?” They were quite surprised by the question, since she had more of a right to change anything about it than they did, but they gave her permission anyway.

“I just wish I could see him again, maybe talk to him.” She said solemnly as she pressed the locket against her hand, letting it be consumed in her ghostly mist.

“You could come with us!” Georgie suggested, “we’re going to be going now.” She only smiled,

“I’m afraid that’s not possible. I can’t return to the living world, I’m no longer living. You’ll have to go without me. But it’s alright. I think this will be enough of a message.” She passed the locket back to John, who securely pocketed it, noticing that she’d also managed to repair the clasp with her strange ability.

“I suppose you three ought to be leaving. I dread to think what time it is back home.” It was at this moment, that they realised they didn’t even know how to get back.

“But we don’t know how to leave, we came across this place by accident.” She smiled

“Well, when someone isn’t meant to be lost forever, they will be found by someone else. And judging by that new alleyway that’s opened up, I suspect that someone is doing just that.” Turning around, she was right. A brand new alley next to the shop had appeared, presumably to take them back to the real world.

“Thank you for helping Valentina,” John started.

“We’ll make sure that Jack gets this back.” Annabel added.

“I have every faith in you.” As they wished her well, they waved goodbye and made their way to the alley. And as Georgie looked back, despite the freezing snow she was standing in, Valentina still had a loving smile on her face, as she waved to them one last time.

The trio yet again wandered through the alley, finding that this one was much harder to get lost in, as it only went in one direction. And although the Lost World had been unnaturally dark, when they came back into the world of the living, it too getting was dark. It seemed that the sun was finally setting, and the evening chill was beginning to feel a little more real than the freezing snow they’d just been in. They appeared to have reemerged in a parking area behind the back of a shop, and, upon turning around, the alleyway that they had just emerged from was gone.

They stood there for a moment, contemplating what they’d just done. They could’ve gone and found people they knew. They could’ve seen their mother, if they had the chance. But at the same time, the whole situation had been so unnatural, and as much as they hated to admit it, it was probably for the best that they were only there for as long as they had to be.

It was at that moment that a bike suddenly sped round the corner of the building and skidded to a stop in front of them

“There you are!” They were certainly more than a little surprised to see who was it was.

“Joey? What are you doing here?”

“I could say the same to you.” He scolded. “I thought I’d follow you after you left the office, to make sure nothing happened to you. You know, we told you to stay on the route. What are you doing out here? You could’ve gotten hurt!” John and Annabel could only look at the ground awkwardly, while Georgie offered a small ‘we’re sorry’ to the rather stressed looking leerie.

“I do hope you found what you were looking for after all this fuss.”

“We did!” Georgie chirped.

“Good. Come on then, I’ll take you home.”

The leerie hadn’t been particularly well able to balance the trio on a ladder seat on his bike like Jack could, so he simply chose to walk them back to Cherry Tree Lane. The cool evening air was slightly more tolerable when they got walking, but the warmth of their home was even better. Their father had been quite frustrated that they’d been out for so long without telling him where they were, but a quickly thought up story (thanks to John) was enough to convince their father that they’d just been at a friend’s house for the day. He seemed to feel a bit better for hearing that, and since they were back before it was totally dark, he chose to let it go.

So then it was just a case of getting the locket to Jack. A small box, a bit of wrapping paper and some ribbon was all they needed before they were set up and ready for him. And while they waited, it was the perfect chance to sit down, relax and reflect on the crazy day they’d had. It was amazing. Just like with Mary Poppins. Except they didn’t need her to make some magic. Of course, nobody would believe them, but that wasn’t exactly new. And it’s not like they needed to have a logical explanation for what they did that day. That would take the fun out of it.

The night was rolling in once more when Jack cycled by. He’d managed to get himself a little more focused this time and was even running a few minutes earlier than normal. He was whistling again, a tune he played on repeat to himself, purely out of habit, and it certainly caught the attention of the Banks children, as they went to watch him from their bedroom window.

The leerie didn’t notice them, as he would on a normal day, but this wasn’t due to a lack of focus. No, he was focussed enough, on the unusual box tied up and hanging from the lamp. It was an strange sight for sure. He’d seen a lot over the years, graffiti, decorations, damages, but never this.

He put up his ladder, climbing it to switch the lamp on and give him a better view of the small box. On any other street, he’d be a lot more cautious of it. He’d heard of few stories in the past of people putting things that could explode on lamps to scare their leerie, but considering where he was, he wasn’t particularly worried about what it was. Leaning over from his ladder, he grabbed the box from where it hung, to see a small tag on it, written in a child’s handwriting, that said,

‘Happy Birthday Jack!’

It was very sweet, but he certainly didn’t expect to open it up and see his locket inside. He couldn’t believe it. His mouth agape, he pulled the locket out to inspect. It was definitely his. Even the clasp had been repaired. He couldn’t believe he was actually holding it again, and when he opened it up, he couldn’t believe what he saw either.

Of course, on the right, was the photo that had always been there, the picture of his family sitting together on the porch of the old farm. But it was the photo on the left that was different, mostly because there was a photo at all. He’d only ever had one picture inside it as long as he’d owned it, but now, a beautiful photo sat, of his mother holding him as a baby. They were both smiling together. They were an odd pair. They always were. But they had always been inseparable. And to see her face like that, in a photo he didn’t even know had ever been taken, set off emotions he didn’t even realise he had, and he could feel himself welling up.

He was almost laughing at himself for being brought to tears by a photo, and as he wiped them away, he finally looked up at the window. And there they were. The children who told him they wanted to find his locket, smiling, knowing they’d done something incredible that day. He could never understand how they managed to pull off such things, but they were always so determined when they wanted to be, and it seemed like this was another one of those days. And as he looked at them with a grateful smile, they opened the window and sang ‘happy birthday’. Definitely the best birthday he’d had in a long time.

**Author's Note:**

> I thought I’d post this to celebrate Lin’s birthday, since, in case you couldn’t tell, I love him. Also, I’m so glad I could bring back Worthing and Joey even though this doesn’t take place in the same universe as AMLIL. I missed writing them. 
> 
> Anyway, I hope you liked this long one-shot. It certainly took a while to write. And hopefully, I’ll see you all again on Saturday.
> 
> HAPPY BIRTHDAY LIN!!


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